quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont.

mr. leahy: mr. president, i'd ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, margo kitsy brodie of new york to be united states district judge for the eastern district of new york. mr. leahy: mr. president, am i correct that the order is such that the vote would be at 5:30? the presiding officer: the order is actually for 60 minutes of debate. mr. leahy: i'd ask consent that the sroebt at 5 -- that the vote be at 5:30. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. leahy: certainly if the ranking member comes to the floor and wishes to change that, i would not object. earlier this month the senate

ended a four month and two day filibuster of the confirmation of judge adalberto jordan. because we had that filibuster he is the first cuban american to serve on the 11th circuit. we ended a five-month filibuster of the nomination of jesse furman former counsel to attorney general mukasey, the attorney general under george w. bush. and he's now confirmed federal trial judge of the southern district of new york. the majority leader should not have had to file cloture petitions for the senate to vote on these two outstanding judicial nominations. senate republicans filibustered nine of president obama's judicial nominations despite the fact that he reached out to both republican and democratic home state senators and nominated a

ideologically moderate men and women to fill vacancies on the federal court. nomination margo brodie should have been confirmed last year. she was reported unanimously, every republican, every democrat on the senate judiciary committee. look what happened to jesse furman. federal prosecutors, also served as top legal advisor to attorney general michael mukasey during the george w. bush administration, involved in the prosecution of the times square bomber, the infamous russian spies and the pakistani scientist with ties to al qaeda whose actions were responsible for the 1998 bombings of the u.s. embassy in kenya and tanzania, the sort of person any president, republican or democratic, would want on the bench. he had impeccable credentials including having khrurpblged for

justice -- clerked for justice souter on the supreme court. but delays. my friends on the other side of the aisle applied a double standard to president obama's nominees. they have departed dramatically from the long tradition of deference of home state senators and judicial court nominees. since 1945, the judiciary committee's reported more than 2,100 district court nominees to the senate. of those 2,100 nominees, only six have been reported by party-line votes. only six of the last 65 years. five of those six party-line votes have been by republican senators against president obama's highly qualified district court nominees. just think of that. since 1945 we've only had six party-line votes against district court nominees.

five of them against president obama's nominees. in fact, only 22 of those 2,100 district court nominees were reported by any kind of split roll call vote at all. and eight of those, more than a third, have been by republican senators choosing to oppose president obama's nominees. president obama's nominees are going to be treated differently than those of any president, democratic or republican, before him. it's why jesse furman was stalled for more than five months. actually the majority leader was able to break through a scheduled debate vote. i saw something else i've not seen before. republican senators who supported the nomination after studying it for months, went before the judiciary committee for hearing, had been through the hearing, studied and voted for him, they flipped and changed their votes.

34 republican senators voted against this highly qualified person, former prosecutor, former key assistant to republican attorney general mukasey. it's hard to 0 understand why we would do this. all it does is politicize the federal court. it hurts all of us. in this case margo brodie practiced law for 20 years, including work as a federal prosecutor in brooklyn for the past 12. she successfully prosecuted numerous cases on all kinds of matters. she has the spoert of -- support of both of her home-state senators. let's stop holding up this excellent woman. let's get her confirmed tonight.

we are more than 40 confirmations behind the pace we set with president bush's judicial nominees in 2001 through 2004. we ought to go back to what we did earlier. mr. president, i'd ask consent that my full statement be part of the record. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that ed chung, department of justice detail on my staff be granted senate floor privileges for the duration of the 112th congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, have the yeas and nays been ordered? the presiding officer: they have not. mr. leahy: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? seeing none, the ayes are 86, the nays are 2. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, the president will be

immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate will resume legislative session. under the previous order, there will be a period of morning business up to 60 minutes equally divided and controlled between senators pryor and alexander. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander alexander: thank , madam president. madam president, i ask consent that senator pryor and i and designated senators be allowed to -- to speak in a colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you, madam president. madam president, some of the senators on the republican side have other appointments to make so i'm going to defer my remarks until the end of the colloquy. and what i will do is first take -- state why we're here and, second, go to senator isakson and then we'll go to senator pryor and then back to senator collins and we -- if we may. madam president, our leaders,

the democratic leader, the majority leader, and the republican leader sometimes get criticized. they have hard jobs and we recognize that. we also recognize that they can't do their jobs unless we do our jobs well. and so tonight what some of us thought we would do on the democratic side and the republican side is apply a -- a management principle that's called catching people doing things right and we believe that the majority leader and the minority leader and senator inouye, the chairman of the appropriations committee, senator cochran, the ranking member, are doing things exactly right when they say that it is their intention to try to move all 12 of our appropriations bills through the appropriations committee and get them to the floor so that we can deal with

them before the next fiscal year starts. and we are here not just to compliment them but to pledge to them our support in helping them achieve that goal. now, there are many important reasons we should do that but basically it is our constitutional responsibility to do it, to appropriate money. it is a time when we need to save every penny we can, and this is our best opportunity for oversight, and it's also good management. and it would put the senate doing what the senate ought to do, which is consider legislation, have a hearing, ask questions, cut out what ought to be cut out, add what ought to be added, vote on it, bring it to the floor, amend it, debate on it and pass it or defeat it. that's what we should be doing. and only twice since 2000 has this senate actually considered every single one of the 12 appropriations bills.

only twice. in 2001 and 2005. so it's been seven years since we've considered every single one of the appropriations bills, which is our most basic responsibility -- appropriate, oversight. and this involves more than a trillion dollars of taxpayer funds. so, madam president, that's why we're here tonight. our leaders have said this is what their intention is. we're here to say, you're right, congratulations, we compliment you, and we're here to help you succeed because it's very difficult for our leaders to succeed if they don't have any followers making it possible for them to achieve their goals. now, madam president, i'd like to defer to senator isakson and then to senator pryor. mr. isakson: i thank senator alexander for giving me a moment on the floor. and it's ironic that when i received the call last week asking if i'd participate in this colloquy, i was traveling my state doing town hall meetings. and i was near oultuwa,

tennessee, as a matter of fact, on thursday night, north of dalton, georgia, in murray county. we had a town hall meeting. this fella at the back of the room raised his hands during questions and said, mr. isakson, i've got a question for you. and i said, what's that? he said, last night my wife and i amended our budget that we established in december for this year because some things had not gone so well and we had to recast how we're spending our money so we wouldn't go any further in debt than we already are. why can't you'veall do that? talking about us? and a similar question was asked in south georgia by a chamber of commerce directer who just couldn't understand why the federal government and the commerce of the united states could not wrap its arm around fiscal responsibility, have a budget and have appropriations acts that come to the floor, they're debated, they're amended and the spending of the united states of america's government is spent like the households of the united states of america have to spend their money. so i want to commend you and senator pryor for bringing this to the floor and i want to commend our leaders for making affirmative statements about the desire to bring the 12

appropriations bills to the floor of the senate, debate them, let us amend them, let's bring them together. you know, if you think about it, in the last three years, we've had a situation the last three years we either had continuing resolutions or omnibus appropriations. during a difficult period of time where we've had deficits of $1.3 trillion to $1.5 trillion, we haven't taken the time to debate how we're spending our money, where we're spending our money and doing it in the context of what we call on the floor regular order. its note hard to understand why only 1% of the american people view the congress as favorable because they can't understand our inability to do the things they have to do themselves. the i.r.s. doesn't take excuses on april 15 if you're not ready. you've got to be ready. if you are a business and you file as an llc or a sub-"s" corporation on the 15th of january, the 15th of angers the 15th of june and the 15th of september, you file a quarterly tax return, and if you don't, you're held accountable. we're now going hue your fourth year and it looks like for the

first time we're going to have debates on the fluorer of how we spend the american people's moin. i want to thank our leadership for making the statement of the desire to do so. i have already seen senator inouye and senator cochran working in the subcommittees to see to it that the bills come to the floor. so i think it is time we did our business, like the american people had to do their business. and i commend you, senator alexander and you, senator pryor, for calling thi call coly tonight. mr. pryor: madam president, thank you. since we have other senators on the floor, what i'd like to do is withhold my comments until a view of our other senators have a chance to speak, if that would be permissible with senator alexander. mr. alexander: madam president, i appreciate the courtesy from the senator from arkansas. the snoer from maine is here. she has another appointment and

she has waited and i look forward to hearing what she has to say. ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the snoer from mest. ms. collins: madam president, first let me thank the senator from arkansas and the senator from tennessee for their usual courtesies but also for organizing this colloquy on the senate floor this evening. i'm very pleased to join my colleagues as we talk about the goal of taking up the fiscal year 2013 appropriations bills in what we in the senate call "the regular order." well, what does that mean? as the presiding officer is well aware, that means we would bring up each of the individual bills; they would be open to full and fair debate; they would be amended; they would be voted on; and we would avoid having some

coul loscoulcollossal bill at te year that combines all of the appropriations bills together. those bills are up, in thousands of pages in length, a lot of times some of the provisions have not had the opportunity to be thoroughly vetted. they really aren't very transparent. and they contribute to the public's concern about the way that we do business here in washington. i, too, want to join in commending the majority leader, the republican leader, the chairman of the appropriations committee, and the vice-chairman of the apreparations committee for their commitment to try to work together in a bipartisan fashion so that each and every one of the appropriations bills

can be brought before the full senate, so that we can work our will on each of these bills. madam president, i would suggest that it is important to the senate as an institution that we achieve this goal. it's also important for the american people to see that we can carry out our constitutional responsibility. and, most of all, it is important for restoring trust in government that we work together in an open and bipartisan manner to establish priorities, to make the tough spending decisions that will be required, and to complete the work on time that

the constitution requires of us. i think it's important to remember that these bills make important investments in research, economic development, infrastructure, our national defense, education, health care, that not -- that these bills not only create jobs now when they are needed most but also establish the foundations for future growth. and, just as important to our economic future is the need to rein in federal spending. our work must continue toward the goal of getting our national debt under control. and the best way for us to achieve these goals is for each and every one of the appropriations bills to come before the full senate and for

us to work our will on those bills. that, madam president, is the way the senate should operate. i.t. the way that we must operate in order to restore the -- it's the way that we must operate in order to restore the faith of the american people in this institution. so, i want to put my full statement in the record, and i would ask unanimous consent that i do so -- the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: thank you. and let me just conclude my remarks by thanking senator alexander and senator pryor for initiating this colloquy tonight. this is a way that we can come together and america will be better for it. thank you, madam president. mr. alexander: madam president, i see senator warner, the senator from virginia, has arrived, who with senator pryor,

has been very active over the last several months in working across party lines to try to make the senate function more effectively. and i would leave it to senator pryor as to what comes next. mr. pryor: if it is agreeable with the senator from tenton, i would like to ask the senator from virginia to say just a few words. we understand he has a pressing engagement. i don't think it gets anymore pressing than when it is your wife's burnlg day, so he would like to -- when it is your wife's birthday, so he would like to say a few words, so if that's permissible with the snoer from tennessee. mr. warner: i appreciate the courtesy of the senator from arkansas and the senator from tennessee for initiating effort. as a relatively new senator to in effect jump the line, i apologize. it was only -- i think about the

presiding officer -- in the interest of family values since if i'm not getting to my wife's birthday in about 30 minutes, i may be able here to give much more extended remarks. but i just want to join my other colleagues, as a senator who has only had the opportunity to serve in this body for three years, i hear a number of my more senior colleagues talk about the old days or the days when the senate took an orderly fashion to perform the business of the people and debated in vigorous fashion, but came to conclusion on issues that confronted the country. we have done some that have in the three years, and i've come in with the presiding officer, and there were issues of major importance that we've debatedment but too often in recent times we have not had the

flavor of those kinds of debates. and while we can disagree about many of the grave issues of the day, as a former businessperson, there is nothing more important ton to give predictability to the enterprise that we call the federal government. and the way we do that is by passing spending bills, the appropriations bills, where hard choices are made about which programs to fund, which programs not to fund. as someone who again, like my friend, the senator from ten tend and both senators from arkansas, i have enormous concerns about debt and deficit. if we are going to make those choices, we are going to need full and vigorous debate where procedural tactics are not used to slow that debate and that the will of the senate can act. so i understand that the majority leader and the republican leader have reached some accommodation to try to

start a new way of business, and the first step of that business should be having us in a fair and orderly process debate appropriations bills, make those hard choices, and move on. so i want to again thank the courtesy of my colleagues, but particularly thank the senator from tennessee and the senior nor from arkansas for bringing us together on the floor to lend our voices. i mean, this might even be kind of like a volunteer fire department where, you know, members of the senate can come down on an issue of importance -- i heard the call earlier today that there were going to be senators down here talking on this important issue, and i'm glad to add my voice to that. with that, madam president, i yield the floor back to the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i want to congratulate the senator from virginia, who has worked with many different ways to try to

get a result here. sometimes people say 20 me, well, yo i see that your goal io try to be more bipartisan. my goal is not to be more bipartisan. my goal is goat a result. and i learned in the public schools of merryville, tennessee and you need 60 votes to succeed, then we're going to have to find some things that we agree on. we can start with these appropriations bills which are basic work. not sole the senior senator from arkansas here today and having been a part of these discussions to try to help the senate be a more effective institution, so is the junior senator from arkansas, and i look forward to hearing his remarks. and i thank him for his leadership. mr. boozman: thank you very much. madam president, i'm also here to compliment my senate colleagues, senator inouye and senator cochran and members of

the appropriations committee as well as majority leader reid and the republican leader, mcconnell, as they commit to do their best to pass all 13 apreparations bills. and i also want to thank the senior senator from tennessee and my senior senator from arkansas for making this possible. i do think it is very, very important. each one of us in this chamber owes it to the american people to work together, to help our country today and build a path for success in the future. our founding fathers laid the foundation that allows the senate to function effectively and efficiently, but it requires working together. the american people are tired of the fingerpointsd finger-pointis

spelled most of the work they sent us here tovmentd again, i aplawrd majority leader reid, republican leader mcconnell, -- determining how we spend our hard-earned taxpayer dollars is a basic responsibility for congress. we know tough choices will have to be hade in the appropriations bills but moving forward is the right decision. this is an important step to reducing government spending and helping to balance our budget while investing in programs that americans have come it rely on. moving forward on these bills returns the national to its proper function and provides a framework of spending so the american people can see and understand where their hard-earned money is going to. as the senator from georgia alluded to earlier. in recent days members of congress have worked together to find solutions to the troubles americans are facing. this level of cooperation was

evident in the headlines one newspaper reported, "washington is talking again." this shouldn't be the exception. this needs to be the rule. i'm hopeful the agreement on moving forward with the appropriations bills through a regular process sets a new trend that will become the standard. i can see from the people that have spoken before me tonight and those who are waiting to tawrks there's widespread bipartisan support for these efforts to continue. our lead d leaders' efforts shoi the proper way for the senate to function and i encourage all of my colleagues to come together not only to help move forward on these bills but also as we work through regular order of the senate that will help get our economy rndz our country back on track. and again thanks very much to our senior senator from tennessee and my senior senator from arkansas. mr. alexander: madam president, before pee go to the senior senator from arkansas, i just want to thank senator boozman for his comments and his

attitude. i am not a bit surprised that since he arrived here he's been a very constructive force in the united states senate. interested in results. he is a member of the university of arkansas football team back in the early 1970's and he knows what a team is. if the quarterback calls a play and everybody runs in a different direction, nobody scores. so it is tabooed to have him here. it is an excellent member of the senate and i thank him for his participation tonight and certainly yield to the senator from arkansas. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: the only thing i would say to that is the senator reminds me that i was a razor back two stadiums go. mr. pryor: madam president, i want to likewise thank senator

boozman. he calls me the senior senator. we're partners. he does great work for the state of arkansas and i appreciate his leadership, although he's been here but a short time his presence has definitely been felt in the senate already. i look forward to working with him as long as we're both here. i really appreciate him being here tonight because the hour is late in washington. it's after 6:30 now. i just appreciate him carving out some time. madam president, i want to thank him. madam president, article 1, section 9, of the u.s. constitution simply states -- quote -- "no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law." end quote. fairly simple statement, like a lot of things in the constitution, but is loaded with importance. we often talk about this clause as a power given to congress in the constitution. and i think that's true. but i'd also classify it as a

responsibility. it is our responsibility as a congress to write annual appropriations laws to fund the government's commitments to its citizens. it's our responsibility to do that. the principle of appropriation is a basic rule of governing. and i think that a lot of people would agree that we've lost sight of many of the basics around here. but the basics, i believe, are important, and i'd like to get back to them. that includes the senate and hopefully the house passing the annual appropriations bills through what we call the regular order. and this is where i want to thank the two leaders: senator mcconnell and senator reid, because they have a commitment. they have committed to each other with the chair and ranking member of the appropriations committee that we will try to get back to regular order and do things the way we should be doing them around here, and

should have been doing them around here all along. regular order is something that we talk about in this chamber, but it's something that many members of the senate, unfortunately, have never experienced. last year the senate appropriations committee dutifully passed all 12 of its individual appropriations bill, yet when they came to the floor, gridlock struck and the senate was not able to pass these one by one as we should. in fact, the last time we've passed them one by one was in the year 2006. and even that year the congress did not get them done on time. and what the leaders are talking about now is getting them, moving through the appropriations subcommittee and the full committee, bring them to the floor, as we say, in regular order, let the senate debate, amend and vote on these as we go.

hopefully we'll get all of these done on time and in the normal order that we should. the last time the congress completed all of the appropriations bills one by one and on time was fiscal year 1995. so we've not done a very good job of this, and this is one of the things that i think really frustrates the american people. it is beyond time we get serious about this responsibility. here again, i want to thank senators reid and mcconnell for their leadership here. i think we see our leaders acting like leaders and trying to get things moving for the fiscal year 2013 appropriations bills. but i must say, and we all recognize this is easier said than done. we all know that. but i want them to know that they have many, many of their colleagues that support them in this goal of getting all of these appropriations bills done

as we should. we have two very respected and accomplished senate leaders here on the floor, but we also have two accomplished and respected senators that run the appropriations committee. we could all talk a long time tonight about the chairman and ranking member, and i'm confident that if as a chamber we stand behind them and stand behind the two leaders, we can break this cycle of inaction here in the senate. the good news for this year is that we have already enacted into law our top-line spending number. in technical terms people call that 302-a allocation. so we know how much money we can spend on discretionary programs under the law. we passed that law last year, even though we didn't pass a budget resolution, we did pass a budget control act.

that total for spending is $1,047,000,000,000. that is $686 billion for security spending and $361 billion for nonsecurity. this law was supported by 71 members in this chamber, 269 members down the hall in the house. and it was signed into law by the president. it's now the law of the land. so we now have our top-line spending numbers in law, and hopefully that will help us jump-start the fiscal year 2013 appropriations process regardless of what happens to the budget resolution, which by the way, i totally support getting a budget resolution passed as well. nonetheless, we have this already in law for this year. madam president, i'd like to end just by saying that i believe that we can pass all 12 appropriations bills this year. and i think that we can do it in a twhaeu gives ample opportunity

for debate and for input and the chance to amend. whether or not we will pass all 12 spending bills on time this year will depend on whether or not members of congress have the will to get it done. i think the american people want us to get it done. they want to see us work together. madam president, if i could ask a question of the senator from tennessee through the chair, i'd like to get his reflections, if possible. because senator alexander has been around this place for a long time, going back to senator howard baker, who is one of the legends in the united states senate. and senator alexander was able to see him and work with him, work for him and see the senate as it ran differently back in those days. and, madam president, i'd like to ask through the chair why senator alexander thinks it is so important that we get our appropriations bills back on

track. he. mr. alexander: madam president, i thank the senator from arkansas for his leadership and the importance of this. i'll answer his question to the best of my ability. i suppose some people may be watching and say this is a lot of inside baseball we're talking about. well, it will be like telling a bunch of people at the grand ole opry, they talk about singing was inside baseball, this is what we do. i went out to see johnny cash at the house of cash when i was governor of tennessee many years ago, i didn't quite know what to say to him. so i said johnny, how many nights do you appear on the road. in that big old deep voice of his, he said about 200. i said my goodness, why do you do that? he looked at me and said, "that's what i do." this is what we do, or at least what we're supposed to do. we're elected by people from arkansas and tennessee all all over this country, north

carolina. they send us up here to put the country first, to put our states next and try to lead us in the right direction. and we have our partisan differences, but in the end one of the things we're supposed to do is to appropriate dollars. appropriate dollars. it says in the constitution, we talk about the constitution in section 9, article 1, no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law. that's us. that's us. so this is what we do. and in addition to that, we're supposed to oversee the spending of that money. this isn't the whole budget. this is only about 38% of it. but it's over $1 trillion. and at a time when we're borrowing 40 cents of every $1 we spend, maybe the people of the country have a right to expect that we take up each one of these 12 appropriations bills, that we have our hearings on them, that we oversee the spending. and if we want to add to nuclear

modernization, we vote on that. and if we want to cut out the solyndra contract, we vote on that. but we do our job of appropriations, and we do our job of oversights. senator pryor, the senior senator from arkansas, asked me what was my reflection upon this senate. i have seen it for a long time. i came here in january of 1967 as a very young man with the newly elected republican senator from tennessee, howard baker. and i've watched it for a long time. and there are many lessons to having watched the senate for a long time. but one lesson is that the leaders can't lead without any followers. i mean, this is a body that operates by unanimous consent. if one of us wants to grease the tracks, the train runs off the tracks. that's the way it works. the leaders are not going to be able to complete what their stated intention is, which is to

take these 12 appropriations bills, bring them through the committees by late april, early may. the house is doing the same thing, we understand. and then bring them across the floor so that we have a chance to consider them, to ex-tphoepls to the light of day, to expose them to the light of day, amend them, to vote on them, pass them or reject them. that is what johnny cash said. and we should be doing it. the idea we haven't taken these 12 appropriations bills and brought them across the floor for two years, since the year 2000, is a bad commentary on this body. it means it doesn't function like it should function. i do think it functioned better in the 1970's and 1980's when senator byrd and senator baker were the democrat and republican leaders. they would get unanimous consent agreements to bring bills to the floor. the minority would allow that, and then the majority would allow a lot of amendments until

people got tired of voting. they couldn't have done that just by themselves. senator byrd and senator baker were very good leaders. but they couldn't have gotten that done if the senators themselves didn't make it possible for the leaders to succeed. so, mr. president, i'm delighted to see this discussion. i see the senator from north carolina is here, and i'd be interested in her comments. my feeling is that there are a large number of republicans and i believe a large number of democrats who prefer to see the senate work to get results. i mean, we work pretty hard to get here, and the people of tennessee and arkansas and north carolina expect us to get results. here's a chance for us to do that. and i believe what we're saying tonight is, our leaders say, okay, let's get this done, and we're saying, senator reid,

senator mcconnell, senator inouye, senator cochran, we're going to help. we know it's not always going to be peaches and cream, there will be problems. but maybe if senator warner talked about a volunteer fire department, maybe if when the bell rings, we show up and try to make the senate more effective, maybe it will be more effective. so let me stop my remarks for a moment and yield to the senator from north carolina who has been a regular participant in the discussions we've had about how can we make the senate be a more effective institution. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mrs. hagan: thank you, mr. president. i am pleased to join this colloquy to hear the senator from tennessee and the senator from -- the senior senator from arkansas work together on this issue, i think is something of prime importance. just as senator isakson went across georgia this past week, i was in many cities and communities in north carolina, and people are concerned, as he said, with such a low approval

rate of congress. they are asking us why can't you work together? and as the senator from tennessee said, when you have 47 in one party and 53 in another party, and today you need 60 votes, in order to get something done, we're going to have to work together. and that's the senate chamber. that also means we have to work in both chambers, the senate and the house are going to have to come together and have conferences that actually work so that we can get legislation passed. and in this case that we're talking about right now, getting the 12 appropriations bills passed. when i was in the north carolina senate, i was one of the cochairs of the budget. we know how to do this. we know how to get things done. obviously it's a much bigger piece of the pie up here. but it's important to the people throughout our country that we work together, get these bills passed. so i'm just very pleased to hear

this debate going on, this colloquy. the commitment that we're standing here talking about this and pledging to work together. i am pleased that senator inouye, the chairman of this committee, as well as the ranking senator, senator cochran, are putting this together and bringing this forward. so i just want to applaud both the senator from tennessee and the senator from arkansas for holding this colloquy and bringing this out so the american people can hear what we're talking about and the commitment to move forward. thank you, mr. president. mr. alexander: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president, i thank the senator from north carolina. i -- she is exactly right. we are here to make this place work, to make our country a little better every day.

now, we're going to have our differences of opinion, but the way the senate is structured, bring the bill to the floor, offer an amendment, let's have a vote, let's have our differences of opinion. and when we don't do that, we're not -- we're not doing our job. now, i see the senator from south carolina has -- has arrived, and i would like to say this about him. senator graham, for the last 45 minutes, we have had a stream of democratic and republican senators who have come to the -- who have come to the floor and who have congratulated senator -- the majority leader and the republican leader, and the chairman of the appropriations committee and the ranking member for saying that we should take all 12 appropriations bills this year, bring them through committee promptly, have all of our

hearings, do our oversight, bring them to the floor and then let's pass them. and more than that, we have said we know our leaders can't be leaders if they don't have any followers, and it's part of our job to create an environment in which they can succeed. so we have come to the floor to say that, to pledge that we are going to do that. it's not just those of us who come tonight. it represents a preponderance of the senators on our side of the aisle, and i'm told by democrats and in my conversations by a preponderance of the democrats as well. and i would say to the senator from south carolina that the senator from virginia, senator warner, was here a little earlier, and he said the exercise tonight reminded him of a volunteer fire department, and i believe i first heard those words from -- from you. and you -- you have seen the house of representatives, you have seen the senate, you have seen the condition of our country. i'd like to yield to you in this

colloquy for your thoughts on what we're doing here tonight. mr. graham: thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: thank you. my first thought is that the american people are not very impressed with what we're doing up here. we have a congressional approval rating of about 10% to 15%. and i think it would help all of us if we could go back home and say this coming week, we're going to be talking about the department of education's budget, we're going to be talking about veterans affairs, we're going to be talking about energy and water, be able to tell you mayors and people, the county council, city council, your constituents, we're going to be debating how much money we allocate for different parts of the government, knowing that we're all broke, boy, i think that would resonate, senator alexander. this whole idea about a volunteer fire department. when you think about it, particularly in the south -- i'm sure it's true everywhere -- volunteer fire departments are citizens who have a lot of

things to do but feel like if they work together to protect each other's home from devastation by fire, that would be a good thing. they are all volunteers, they don't get any money, and they lower everybody's insurance premiums by having a volunteer fire department. i think the senate -- a lot of members of the senate feel very frustrated like the average person on the street and we would like to do better, so we're volunteering our services here to the body, that if we will do things that make sense to the american people, count us in to kind of push the ball up the hill. but the good news, senator alexander, is our leaderships have committed to this, and without followship, it doesn't matter what they say. this will take discipline on the part of the body. i expect those on the other side to take votes they don't like, i expect us to take votes we don't like, but you have to have some discipline about it. we have to get the bills done in an orderly fashion. we want the senate to be the senate. if this comes about because

senator alexander and senator warner, who sent a lot of time getting us all together -- we talked on the floor one day about how frustrated we were. this volunteer fire department idea we kind of seized upon, but the truth of the matter is you and senator warner have made this happen. we have had several dinners among the people here tonight to try to find a way to get the senate back to business. i am convinced that if we could bring one appropriations bill to the floor, have an honest debate about how much we should spend on that part of the government, have amendments relevant and not relevant but in an orderly fashion, there would be momentum to get the senate back to being the senate. that could help us all, it would help the country. i just want to tell senator reid and senator mcconnell, don't let this moment pass, that we have got you back. we want to conduct the business of the senate in a way more traditional than what is going on here today. i came up here to do things. i think everybody who was on the floor tonight have spoken and really is integrity the -- telling the public and telling

each other enough is enough. a lousy way to appropriate a couple $3 trillion and do it at the end of the year in a bill that nobody reads. and if you think that's a broken system, we agree. we don't like the idea of passing a bill in the last week of the fiscal year, 3,000 pages, 4,000 pages, whatever it is, and nobody knows what's in it, but that's the only way you can run the government if you don't go back to the normal course of business. so to those who want better government, this will give you better government. to those who want to do something constructive, this gives you an opportunity. to those who think we need to set priorities, this allows you to do it. and to the leaders of the united states senate, if you will follow through with this, it will pay enormous dividends for the body. and again, senator alexander and senator warner and all the others who have been in the volunteer fire department, i think this is a good moment for the senate and i'm proud to be associated with it. if it happens, it's because of what you have done, lamar. mr. alexander: madam president, before we go back to the senator from arkansas, i have a question i wanted to ask the senator from south carolina, but first i --

i'm not sure he was here. when i referred to the grand ol' opry, i have a bad habit of doing that because it's in nashville, but it's occurred to me over the last several months that there is a lot about what we do that's like the grand ol' opry. i mean, i -- i know a lot of performers of the opry, members of the opry, they sing and pick in every little bar in the south for 20 years until finally by skill and by accident they get an invitation to join the grand ol' opry. and what will they think if they joined the grand ol' opry and then they weren't allowed to sing? that's kind of how we are in the senate. we're lucky to be here. we're really political accidents in a sense, but we have worked hard to be here, almost all of us on both sides. and the idea of not coming -- of coming here, working hard to be here and being elected by the people who sent us and then we're not allowed to amend or vote or debate, i mean, that's what we want to do with these 12 bills. to the senator from south carolina, you reminded me of a

specific example of that, for example. the deep ports in the united states. if we are going to export american-made goods and create more jobs in our country, we're going to have to have deep ports. we have a real problem in the way we finance that in the federal government, and we would be a stronger country if we could discuss that in the appropriations committee and we don't fix it there, bring it to the floor and let's have an amendment and let's have a debate and let people see what's going on. wouldn't you agree that would be the perfect example of what we should be doing? mr. graham: i think you picked the best example i can think of simply because the charleston harbor deepening is probably the number-one issue for the state of south carolina. the point that the senator is making is the panama canal will be widened and the cargo ships that will be on the oceans of the world in the next few years are three times the size of the

cargo ships that exist today. shipping as we know it is going to change. what does that mean? that means harbors like savannah and charleston, they will have to be deeper to accept these ships. what does it mean for shipping? ships that would normally deposit their goods in california can now come to the panama canal and access the east coast directly. so east coast ports based on common sense and merit have to be deepened. and if you brought the energy and water appropriations bill through the committee and to the floor, it would make us all think about that, because when i hear the president say we want to double exports in the next five years, count me in. there would be thousands of jobs, millions of jobs created in america. well, how do you get those products to the customers overseas if your ports are not modernized to adjust to the change in shipping, then it's a statement that will not bear fruit. go to shanghai, go to hong kong and other ports, go to middle east ports and we're 20 years

behind. so this is a good example of how if you took the energy and water appropriation bill, among ourselves we could create a national vision to deepen ports to adjust to shipping changes. if we keep continuing to appropriate in the last week of the session in a bill that nobody reads, not only will our fellow citizens think poorly of us, we won't have a vision, so this is a good example of why if you took every appropriation bill, put it through the committee, brought it to the floor, you would come up with ways to make smart decisions. and i guess what we're talking about is that spending $2 trillion or $3 trillion in a week where four or five people know what's in the bill is not smart, and we all did come up here to have our say. boy, have i got a thousand ideas about ports. and to my friend in arkansas, if the port of charleston is deepened and other east coast ports are deepened and the cargo containers are three times the volume that we have today, what does that mean for the mississippi river? it means it's got to be widened and deepened because the cargo

you unload on the east coast has to get to the interior of the country. and i'd like to have a vision for interior ports, because one thing does affect the other, and the only way the senate can make smart decisions is to break the government into 12 parts that we have been doing for about 30 -- for a long time and get back to doing business in a more traditional fashion. so this is a classic example of where if you brought the energy and water appropriation bill to the floor, people other than me would have a say about what to do, given the change in shipping, and if we don't do it in the normal course of business and we keep doing this at the last week of the session, we're going to be left behind as a nation. so great example of how we should -- why we should do appropriations bills in the normal course of business. if we can pull this off, then 2012 will not be a lost year. it will be a year in which we can do some good for the public. so thank you very much, and i yield back. mr. pryor: i have one thing to say really in closing while my two colleagues are still on the

floor. that is today senator shaheen read washington's farewell address which we have been doing in the senate since 1888. and one of the reasons we do that is because president washington calls to us through history to do our best. you know, you talk about this issue in south carolina, deepening the port of charleston. certainly, president washington knew about the port of charleston, it was a huge asset for this fledgling nation of ours. he had no idea about a panama canal. he had no idea about goods coming over from china. he certainly had no idea about goods coming in from the west coast, because at that point he was just hoping we would get to appalachia. he had no idea what was going to happen here. but he calls to us from history to do our job and accept the challenges that come our way. and the appropriation bill really shouldn't be a challenge. it is nuts and bolts good government. i -- this week in arkansas, i

had five town hall meetings, and they were great. got lots of good questions, a few pointed questions. you all know how it goes, y'all participated in those as well. but it is great. it is democracy in action. when people can show up in a community and ask their senator questions, that means the system's working, you know? and we need to -- it's working back home. we need to get it to work up here. i think that's one of the things i saw or heard over and over this week in arkansas is expectations for this congress are very, very low for this year. i mean, we talk about the 10% approval rating. i'm sometimes surprised it's that high. mr. graham: would the senator yield for a second? mr. pryor: yes. mr. graham: here's the good news. it wouldn't take much to exceed expectations. i would just add to the west coast senators, your ports need to be modernized, too. you need transportation hubs around the ports. the whole infrastructure regarding export opportunities

in this country has deteriorated because of a lack of a vision. so to my friend from arkansas, you couldn't -- wal-mart is a pretty good model of how business works. they get thousands of millions of products a day out to stores all over the country. they do it in a business fashion, fedex, federal express, u.p.s. the federal government is stuck in the 1950's, and we need to change that, and i think the appropriations process is the right vehicle to do it. mr. pryor: and that does go back to the appropriations process because obviously those things take money, they take an investment in our future, but the truth is if we're stymied in our appropriations process, there is just a lot of good things that we can't get done because those vehicles when they go through, we can take care of the challenges that present themselves around the country. we have a lot of needs in this country. i certainly am a promoter of investing in infrastructure, and the ports are very -- very important to our nation. madam president, with that, i would yield the floor to the senator from tennessee.

mr. alexander: i want to thank the senator from south carolina for his leadership on helping to make the senate work and for his good example and for his giving us a specific example, the deep ports, of why it's important that we -- we be allowed to do what we are elected to do, which is to say, look, the port of charleston or the port of savannah has to be a deep water port if we want to keep our jobs. that needs to be said in the senate. it needs to be said in the subcommittee, it needs to be said in the fuel committee, it -- full committee, it needs to be said on the floor. it's encouraging to me when senators like the senator from north carolina and arkansas and virginia from that side of the aisle and the senator from south carolina and maine and the junior senator from arkansas, the senator from georgia on this side of the aisle, i think we would all say firmly that while we are only several senators,

that the words we speak are the same feelings that a large number of senators on both sides of the aisle feel. i mean, we want to get results. we want to do our jobs. we want to create an environment in which our leaders can succeed, and we know that if we want to, we can do that, and we should do it because it's our constitutional responsibility, because oversight is our responsibility, because it's lazy management if we allow it to go to the end of the year and be in a great big pile like this or a continuing resolution, which is worse. we need to go over item by item. i'm on six subcommittees. all three of us are on the appropriations committee. we'll probably have 30 hearings in the next two or three months. we'll have a good opportunity to go through this trillion dollars of spending that we do and -- and try to spend it wisely and to save money wherever we can. and one last thing, when this

comes to the floor and we debate it and we get through with it and we approve the trillion dollars of spending, we can show to the american people that that's not most of the problem we have in spending in this country. that's 38% of the budget. and according to the -- the congressional budget office, it's scheduled to go up over the next ten years at the rate of inflation. the rest of the budget, which is largely our entitlement programs, is scheduled to go up at four times the rate of inflation. and if it does that, madam president, we'll be a bankrupt country after about 10 or 12 years. so there's every reason in the world for us to bring these bills to the floor and -- and my concluding sentence is this. we congratulate the democrat and i can republican leaders and the chairman and ranking members of the appropriation appropriations committee. we believe our job is to bring all 12 bills through committee and to the floor and through the floor and pass them before the fiscal year starts. and we on both sides of the

aisle, those of us who've spoken, and many others who feel the same way, pledge our support to help our leaders achieve that result. i thank the president, and i yield the floor. mr. pryor: madam president, i want to thank the senator from tennessee -- mr. president, i'm sorry. i didn't notice who was in chair there. mr. president, i want to thank senator alexander from tennessee for his leadership on this. he's the one that wanted to come here and praise the two leaders for their leadership. again, they're demonstrating leadership by reaching in -- reaching this agreement and really trying to change recent practice around here. they want to set a new standard for getting it done like we're supposed to get it done. so i want to thank my friend and colleague from tennessee for all of his hard work. and this is really just the tip of the iceberg. he's working on many, many things to try to make this institution run better and to make the american people proud of the united states senate.

so i want to thank you for that. mr. president, i understand that there is a bill at the desk and i ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the bill are for the first time -- read the bill for the first time. the clerk: h.r. 1173, an act to repeal the class program. mr. pryor: i now ask for a second reading and, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i object to my own request. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bill mr. be read for the second time -- the bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. mr. pryor: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, the senate adjourn until tuesday, february 28, at 10:00 a.m. that following the prayer and the pledge, the journal of the proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day.

that the senate be in a period of morning business until 12:30 p.m., with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority leader -- or the majority controlling the first half-hour and the republicans controlling the second half-hour. further, that the senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for weekly caucus meetings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. pryor: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate will stand adjourned until tuesday, february 28, until tuesday, february 28,

the technology itself is using two cameras; one that works out and one that looks at the eye so we know the person is interested in what they are seeing. >> to lead on the communicators a final visit to the consumer electronics show in las vegas with a look at the newest and technology in the latest innovations coming out of the industry. at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> there are millions of these americans will and to sacrifice for change, but they want to do

it without being threatened, and they want to do it peacefully. they are the non-violent majority. black-and-white who are for change without violence. these are the people whose voice i want to be. >> as candidates campaign for president this year we look back at the man who ran for the office and lost. go to our web site, c-span.org/contenders. islamic can you remember in the depression when times were hard and we left the doors unlocked? >> now we have the most violent crime-ridden society in the industrialized world. i can't live with that. can you live with that? >> c-span.org/thecontenders debate islamic earlier today in new hampshire senator jean chretien came to the senate floor to reside george washington's farewell address to

the nation. the senate tradition dates back to 1862. this is about 40 minutes. >> washington's farewell address to the people of the united states. riiends and fellow citizens, the period for an election of a citizen to administer the exit of government of the united states be not for distant and the time arrived when your thoughts must be employed andwit designating the person who is to be closed with that important a more distinct expression of the public place i should now a price you of the resolution i have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is te be made. me the justice to be assuredd to that this resolution has notiono been taken without strict regars to all the considerations

retaining to the relations whicw binds the pitiful citizens to his country and that and withdrawing the tender service which in my situation mighto de imply i am influenced by no definition of zeal for yourted future interest, no deficiency past kindness but i am supported by the full conviction that theo staff is compatiblef an with bo. the acceptance of and continuance to the office to which they've twice called me inclination to the opinion of duty and to indifference forly d what appears to be your desire. i constantly hope that it would have been much earlier in myrd,n power consistently with motives i was not at liberty to this regard to return to that retirement from which i have been reluctantly drawn. the strength of my inclination to do this previous to the last election had even led to the preparation of an address to the

cleric but reflection on the posture of our affairs with foreign nations and thendon t unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence and help me to abandon the idea. on a free choice of the state of your concern external as well as internal mullen fermenters the positive inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety and i am persuaded whatever partiality ma may be retained for my servicesh that in thate present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire. k e impressions with which ifiro first undertook the arduous trust or explant of the proper occasion in the discharge of i have with good intentionsdminn contributed towards thet the be organization and of maturation of exertions of which very fallible t not unconscious in the outset

with the interior of the mor collocations in mye own my perhaps in the eyes of others have strengthened the motives and dissidents of myself and every day the increasing weight and admonishes me more and moreo that the shade of a retirement. is as necessary to me as was be welcomed. that is a sign that if any circumstances have given the killing of value to my servicesp the whatever the. i had the consolation to believc that while choice and prudence invite me to put the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. in looking forward to the moment which is to terminate the career of my political life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgement at that debt of gratitude which i owe to my beloved country.e f for the many honors that have been conferred upon me. still more for the steadfast suppo confidence with which hashence

supported me, and for theenjoye opportunities i have sinceolably enjoyed of manifesting my attachment by serviceseal. persevering the win usefulness and equal to my zeal. if benefits have resulted to the serv country from these services, what it always be remembered to your prayers and as an instructive example that under circumstances in which the passion is educated in every direction we're liable tot appe mislead appearances sometimes dubious, the fortune often discouraging in situations in which not on frequently successi the constancy of your support with of the essential problem the effort and a guarantee of the plan by which they were profoundly been treated with this idea, i shall carry it with me to my grave that have beencet may continueok to use the choic;

and tokens of its t beneficence that your union and brotherly affection me be perpetual the free constitution which is the work of your hand may be secretly maintained, but its department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue, that in the happiness of the people of the state's under the auspices of liberty may be made a complete by carefully preservation and acquto the prudent use of this blessing as well acquired them the glory of recommending itfe to the applauh of the affection and adoption of a free nation which is yet a , perh stranger to.but yet perhaps i ought to stop for the solicitude of your welfare which comes in with my life and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude urged me on an occasion like the present to offer to your solemn

contemplation or recommend to your frequent review some sentiments which are the resultb of much reflection of no which appear to me all important to the permanency of yourm, as o people. this will be offered to you with disint more freedom as you can only sey in the disinterested warnings om the parting friends who can possibly have no personal motive to lie the council. nor can i forget as an encouragement to your reception of my sentin ments on the former and not this similar occasions. interwoven as is the love ofyou liberty with every ligon and ofy your heart, no recommendation of y ne is necessary to fortify ort confirm the attachment. the unity of government which constitutes one people is oftena now in deer to you. it is just the sow for it is the main killer and the edifice of your real independence the

support of your tranquillity atr home commodore peace abroad of your safety, your prosperity, the liberty that you highlyee prized but as it is easy to receive from different causes ans d different quarters much pn employee to weaken in your mind the conviction of this truth as this is the point in your political fortress again switched the batteries ofl internal and external entitiesct williv be most constantly and actively the lofton covertly and insidiously directed, it is an infinite movement that you should properly estimate the an immense value of your national union to your collective andisht individual happiness that you should cherish the cordial, accustoming yourself to speak of it as the political safety andoh

prosperity, watching for its preservation with jobless t even a anxiety, discounting whatever it may suggest even a suspicion it can in any event be abandoned and indignantly frowning uponm the first bombing that every attempt to alienate every portion of the country from the rest or to the sacred ties which now linked together the various parts. inducement of the interest. of y citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country is. the right to concentrate your yo affection. america longs to you and your national capacity massaleit excellent the pride of patriotism more than any better life from the localght shad of discrimination with slight shades of difference you have the same religion, manners,in am

habit and political principle. you have a common cause try and to devotee independence and liberty that you possess or the work of the joint council, and joint efforts of common dangers, suffering and success.werfullyhr but thesees considerations,, however powerful they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. here every portion of the country finds the mostlly guarnd commanding motive for carefully guarding and preserving the the north in the unrestrained intercourse with the south protected by the equal law of the common government finds and productions of the latter great additional resources at maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industries.inteoub the south in the same of course

benefitting by the same agency of the north sea's this agriculture to grow and its commerce expand. turning partly into its own channels of the north, it finds its particular navigationwhile b contributes in the different ways to nourish and increase thw general national navigation and looks forward to the protectionc of the maritime strength to which itself is unequallyth they adapted the east and the like intercourse with the west already finance in the progress of improvement of the interioreo eommunications by land and wateh more and more find a valuable event for the commodities which it brings from abroad or manufacturers at home.es requit the west derives from the east,m supplies requisite to its growtr and comfort in what is perhaps the still greater confidence that must have necessity over the secure enjoyment of

indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence and future maritime strength of the atlantic side of the union directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. any other tenure by which the west can hold this essential thn advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength or fromit an apostate and natural connection with any foreign power must be intrinsically precarious. a while then every part of a rich country that feels an immediate and a particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of meansst andpb efforts greater strength and aee greater resource proportionately greater security from e danger, less frequentpeacby for foreign nations, and what is the value they must derive from then unions and exemption from those

war that in themselves that frequently afflicts neighboringt hi the same government, which theit own rival chip alone would be h oppo sufficient to produce, but whic opposite foreign alliances, attachments would stimulate and in better. hence likewise the necessity ofn the overgrown militarydevernmen establishments which under any inspic inauspicious to liberty and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to the republican liberty. and in this sense it is that your union ought to be your liberty and that the love of one of to india to you the preservation of the other.age te these considerations speak it persuasive language that every reflecting and virtuous mind exhibits the continuance of the union as a primary object of

patriotic desire.nment can ace is there about whether a common government can embrace the largest sphere? let experience solve it. to listen to the mere speculation in such a case whero a criminal. we are authorized to hope that a s oper organization of a wholect with the odds of the agency of government for the respectiveri. subdivision will afford a at the issue to the experiment.and it is well worth a fair and full experiment. with such powerful and obvious motives to the union affecting all parts of the country, while experience shall not have thmonstrated its intractability there will always be a reason ty distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter they endeavor to weaken its ban. in contemplating the cause which we disturb or union, it occurs as a matter of serious concerntu

that any grant should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discrimination, northern and when designing to excite thed vw belief that there is a difference of local interest and use. parties to acquire influence within the particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and the names of other districts.much aga the j you cannot yield yourself tootbi much against the jealousy and the heartburn in which stringtht from their presentations. thoseo they tend to render alien to each other those lot to be banned together by the personal sections. the inhabitants of our western country has had a weapon on his head. they've seen in the negotiation by the executive and in the and

animist unification by the senate of the treaty and in universal satisfaction at the even throughout the united states a decisive proof how one founded with the suspicions l among them of thevernment and policy and the general government and in the atlantic sipp statei. unfriendly to their interest and regard in mississippi. the gift and witnesses to theatr formation of the two treatieshir that was great britain and thatd perything they could desireconr wth respect to our foreignll ir relations towards confirming their prosperity. will it not be there was some to rely to the preservation of these advantages on the union by which they were procured?h will not enforce the as advisers such they are which connect them with a million. with the permanency of your union, the government for the whole is indispensable.

no alliances, however strict between the parts can be an adequate substitute they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptionstie which all alliances and all times have experienced. this you have improved upon your first essay by the adoption of foe constitution of government, better calculated than your former for an intimate union an. gr the efficacious management of your common concerns. this government, the o offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and at odds about the upon the full investigation and theon col matureet deliberation completely free and its principal in the distribution of its powersd co containing within the provision for its adjusted the claim to the confidence in your support.,

respecting its authority, compliance with its wall and acquiescence in its measures, duties are joined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. basis of our political system is the right as a people can make and to alter their constitutions of government. the constitution which at any time exists until the changeof , explicit acts of the wholethe df people is secretly obligatory upon all.to the very idea of the power andee the right ofrn the people to establish a government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. all obstructions to the execution of the law, all combinations and associationsr,t and whenever possible character, with the real designed to direcr control, counteract the

deliberations in the actions of the constituted authority are destructive of this fundamental principle and fatal tendency. they served organized factionsa; given an artificial and extraordinary force to put into place the delegated will of the nation the will of the party. often small but powerful andandi entesirprising minority of the community, and according to the alternate triumph of different parties come to make the public administration the mirror of the bill concerted and in projectscd of fashion rather than the organ of consistent and wholesomedigem plans adjusted by the commonntes council and modified by a mutual interest. the answer popular ends and they'll likely in the fourth time and things with become potent engine by which anme

ambitious men would be enableden to subvert the power of ther of people and usurp for themselves the reign of government, destroying afterwards the verygs engines which of lifted them to the unjustom dominion's. towards the preservation of your government and the permanency of your happy state it is not only that you -- >> you can find the rest of this address of the c-span video library, and we had now to a rally for rick santorum, one of the republican presidential candidates in michigan >> we thank you for the opportunity to be in a country like the united states of america. thank you for creating freedom. thank you for inventing a place that gives us the opportunity to choose our leaders i see so many

people who are excited to be part of the process in choosing a leader of the united states of america we pray that will give us a president who will be brave, who will stand in the face of adversity and evil. we pray that he will give us a president would be good. we pray that will give us the president and would look upon the crowds of people in this nation with the compassion that your son jesus christ had when he looked on the clouds. we pray that he would give us a president with vision and a president that would defend the voiceless and the unborn. we pray that you would give as a president who will defend marriage the way you invented it. and father, we prefer a president who would walk in your ways and we pray that you give us a president who would do what is right and not what is popular. lord we thank you for rick and

karen and the service date given the country so far. and father, we pray that if you have found him faithful, if you have found him faithful to be brave, if you have found him faithful to be good, if you have found him faithful to be compassionate to have the vision to defend the unborn in marriage and walk in your ways, if you have found him faithful we pray that you would make him the next president of the united states. and we ask this in the name of your precious son, jesus christ, who is the way, the truth and the light in his name we pray and all of god's people said amen. [applause] i want to introduce you to mr. mr. will burts. come on up here. [applause] will is a sixth grader here at the christian academy. [cheering] and is going to lead us in the

pledge of allegiance. will. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. and to the republic, for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [applause] >> good evening. i want to welcome all of you here tonight. you know, it was saturday morning at 9:00 when i got a phone call from the rick santorum campaign, and they said hey, jack, do you think if we

brought rick santorum to kalamazoo you could get 300 people together to see him? [cheers and applause] and i said yeah, i think we can do that. well i just when you to know there's about 400 people in this room, there's about 150 downhaul that's being greeted by rick santorum, and i believe we turned away another 300 or 350 people. over 1,000 people came because they wanted to see rick santorum. [cheers and applause] tomorrow is going to be a very important day here in michigan, and the eyes of the nation more on this state. are you ready to make history tomorrow? [cheers and applause] you know, we have someone from

michigan, who in the political will is described as a favorite son. some one right here from michigan who is running for president committee were the man come a good man, was coasting along figuring this is my home state. we are going to win easily. but along came another candidate who said not so fast. rick santorum is running for president. and the question i think on the mind of a lot of people is what are we looking for in a president? you know, i just happen to be running for office myself but i'm not on the ballot tomorrow, so don't worry about that. but as i've traveled around and talk to people come here are some of the things i'm hearing. we are looking for a leader who understands what he is wearing an oath to when he raises his right hand. [cheers and applause] is not to the party. it's not to the leadership, it's not to the rich lobbyists that

helped get them elected, and quite frankly, it's not even to the constituents. they swear an oath to the constitution of the united states. [cheers and applause] and when our president swears that oath and upholds that oath to the constitution, he will be doing what's best for his party and his leadership and his constituents, because he will be serving the constitution. another thing that i've heard a lot of, and you hear many elected officials to talk about power, the powerful congressman, the chairman of the powerful committee. but i have a question for you. since when did we want that power to be in washington? that's not what this constitution talks about. the constitution protects your individual liberty and your empowerment. the constitution limits

government and makes sure the power stays in your hands, not the elected officials that are supposed to serve. [applause] and here's one more thing that i am sure all of you have often heard: i want to go to washington so i can bring the money back to this direct. here's my question. wouldn't you rather have people been washington make sure the money stays in your pocket where it belongs? we don't want the money going to washington. we want to keep the money because we know better for ourselves what's best for our families, for our businesses, for our personal lives. and so, i think it's time for a president who understands these core principles. i believe we have running for president somebody who is a principled conservative who knows what he believes, stands on what he believes, doesn't

back down and that's what we are looking for as our next president of the united states. [applause] and so now, ladies and gentlemen, i am very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce, will introduce who i believe is going to be the next president, pastore can't clark from pontiac michigan and the grace the will ship. pastore clark. [applause] >> president obama, you are in trouble. [applause] you have a weekend the sleeping giant. good morning america said on friday that in a poll they had taken, less than 3% of the

american people wanted presidential candidates to talk about social ills. as a man of faith, i do not believe that poll to be correct. we are living in a day of societal suicide, a society that has left its roots and seemingly are drifting without a point of reference. it is an honor for me to introduce to you a man who is a voice in this wilderness of fear and confusion, a man that is standing in the hedge and making up the gap. in man who speaks with passion for the nation gone awry, a nation that he undoubtedly gloves. a man who is a friend of israel and a foe to planned parenthood.

[cheers and applause] a man who knows the difference between good and evil. and man who believes in a creator rather than we being the accident whole formation of a gas and dust. that we as americans are a people of purpose and destiny. a man who knows that the spiritual weapons of the great nation are our most powerful resource in the war. a man who believes in the sacredness of life and knows a spero doesn't fall to the ground without god's notice. and a nation cannot rise without dodd's aid. a man who believes in first amendment rights and that big

government has a splatter on the church must be removed. mr. obama, get the government off of the church turf. [applause] a man who believes in the big g but it's not big government passing out entitlement checks. a man who is a true conservative, believing in second amendment rights and supports the nra. a man who knows the family to build the building block of a solid society, the social glue that holds a society together, and that marriage is between a man and woman. [cheers and applause] a man who knows that social ills cannot be solved by big

government. a man who speaks from the heart as did president ronald reagan to the hearts of those who hear him. i give you the next president of the united states, senator rick santorum. [applause] [cheers and applause] [chanting] thank you. thank you. good to see you here. thank you. it's great to be in kalamazoo. [cheers and applause] all right. thank you. thank you, pastor clark. appreciate that very much. let me thank everyone else who

came here, in particular i want to thank all of the organizers for this event and for putting this crowd together. you did such a good job. there are people who can't fit in here, and we had to set up a second room for people to go over and we are going to have actually to town hall meetings going on at the same time. let me tell you how we are going to do that. my daughter -- i know you probably hear this a joke all the time, my gal in kalamazoo -- [laughter] my daughter, my daughter, our oldest daughter elizabeth is here. come up and say hi, elizabeth. [applause] she is -- she is the oldest of our seven children. i'm not even going to start with the duggars. [laughter] but i went to thank the duggars for being here. thank you so much for joining us. [applause] and i also want to thank the hicks family. there's the hicks family.

i'm sure you already know the date made over a thousand phone calls for us and i want to thank them for their help. [applause] but, my daughter has been traveling with me, which we do a lot of traveling. my son also should be here. he's taken a year off. sort of my traveling companions. my wife is coming in with another couple of the kids tomorrow morning to be here for a great victory party tomorrow night. [cheers and applause] and so, but this is our oldest, elizabeth who is our 20-years-old, and in 1916, 14, 12, ten, and three as the rest of the family. and elizabeth is going to seek out and go to one of the other classrooms and she's going to do grown tall hall meeting for the people who couldn't be here so i want to say thank you very much. go ahead. [applause]

to the members of the press, you might find it more interesting because she is going to answer all of the personal questions about me so there you go, not that you haven't been trying to dig. anyway. [cheers and applause] it's really great to be here. we have had such a great day in michigan. we've been traveling all over the state, and these last few days have been up in the up. and i had pastey for breakfast yesterday, house that? [applause] good. so, i feel like an initiated michiganer right now, and we've been down to florent and we were in lansing before this and we've been traveling all over the state, and we are really excited about the response. i think we are going to surprise a few people tomorrow night. [cheers and applause]

and the reason i believe we are going to surprise people is because we've been actively giving out there and talking about a positive vision for our country, something that can get people excited about the future. we have a president right now who i refer to as the divider in chief, someone who's constantly trying to put one group against another, not working on trying to be honest with the american public and bring us together in a way that america works best. and what i've tried to do is put forth ideas and vision that reminds us who we are. you know, ronald reagan when he left office, his last words to the american people, he expressed concern about whether america was going to do as well in the future, and he said the reason for that is because he was worried about american

children in particular not learning about what the real american history is. what the real origins of our country is, but holds us together as a nation. because in america i am a first-generation american. my dad came over and the boat, yet when my father came over to this country with his grandfather, my grandfather, my dad was only seven. but when he came to this country he stepped on american shores and because he came here to be part of this great experiment in america that day he became an american because america isn't about and ethnicity or race. we are all hyphenated americans so what is it? its not indefinite city. what is being in america? it's about an ideal and set of values that make us a country and we forget that. we forget that somehow or another america is in fact an

enterprise people participate in and it is constantly changing and the particular, but i think the basic core of america is the same. it's what makes us exceptional, and that is of course our founding documents. what barack obama said about nine months ago on responding to paray and's budget he looks set in thailand programs anything from unemployment insurance to medicare, and he said america is a better country because all of these government programs. he read from his teleprompter i will go one step further. america is not a great country until these programs were passed to get that is a majority of america that is foreign to most americans because that's the

view that most sovereigns have in their country and what the government does for the people instead of what makes our country great is free people having the opportunity to do for themselves, not the government. [cheers and applause] america was founding great. in our original documents, there may be a few key party people here. i want to thank the tea party for resurrecting a document and the document called the constitution of the united states. [cheers and applause]

the idea that this document is in fact the operator's manual of our country. it is the overarching wally that's worked well in establishing and building the framework for a great country, the freest, safest, most prosperous, most transformational country but i would argue in human history from the standpoint of not just freedom but in the advancement of human kind i reminder buddy in the declaration in the constitution with expectancy in america was about 35 to 40 years of age, just what it was a time of jesus christ. for 1800 years of kings and emperors and sovereigns ruling the people of course for their benefit, the human condition didn't change dramatically or some would say at all and then america happened.

we formed a government when we first declared our independence, and in a document, which is not the operator's manual but to the true heart of america of who america is i would make the argument is what makes america exceptional is the declaration of independence and we hold these words to be self-evident all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights of them. there we go. that's who we are. [cheers and applause] that sentence changed the concept of governance.

the whole view of what the government was there to do. that's why when the constitution was drafted was drafted for the purpose of protecting, limiting the government to make sure the individual, the family, the church, the civic organizations, the little businesses were free to come to thrive and prosper from the bottom-up not some ruler trying to order society from the top down, not to the eletes who knew better who were better bread or educated, no, our founders trusted the great unwashed of america. they trusted all the fuss. folks they referred to in the big cities now has flyover country. welcome this is not fly over country. this is the heart and soul of america. [applause]

into under the 35 years life expectancy went from 45 to 81 in 1800 years it didn't change. the dynamism of the economy because of america because of freedom, because of the breeding people to pursue their wants and dreams and to reap the benefits and not have a government or a leader condemning them for success, bleeding in the between the 99 and the one. but in fact when people went out and achieved greatly we actually held honors for them we build statues and women with great success in individual brought great success for everybody. employers actually hired employees. it's hard to have employees for employers people who take risk, people who strive and do great

things, that is the greatness of america that we all have a role to participate in. we don't envy each other. what's been going on in this country, this divisiveness, this putting one group against another, condemning certain sectors of our economy, taking over other sectors of our economy is not what america is about. that's why there is this interest in america was happening around us. our freedoms are taken away, our economic freedom, obamacare. [booing] anybody want to repeal obamacare? [cheers and applause] there's a poll that came out this evening in the swing states which include michigan and that swing state category 75% of the

voters in the swing states believe obamacare is unconstitutional. [applause] believe it or not, to the people in the white house who think this is a normal course to run over the constitution to do whatever they want to do with it is a printing people to the positions on constitutionally or whether it is passing the on constitutional law or trying to do things within passing the law to trample first amendment rights, this administration doesn't have any concerns that this debt letter document in their minds has any constraint on their power. ruth bader ginsburg, supreme court justice, one of obama's favorites was asked a question whether she would recommend the united states constitution for a country that was starting a government. and she answered no, she would

not. that is antiquated, it is dated, and we need something new that reflects the new truth that has been discovered. a constitution like she suggested, the south african constitution. that's a better model. you're not a supreme court justice in the documents that she's one to uphold and defend can't even defend it in a group of people who want to look down at our founding documents. we need somebody in the oval office as well as somebody in the courts who revere the document understanding its greatness and adhere to meet. [cheers and applause] obamacare doesn't adhere to it.

it was shoved down the throats of the american public because they believed if they could get this done they didn't really care whether they lost the next election are not in 2010. if they thought the economy by 2012 would be good enough for obama to get reelected and most presidents to get reelected, and once that happens they have now delayed the implementation of obamacare. they don't want you to experience obamacare before the election. they are going to wait until after that. and then they are going to bring the hammer down and they figure it will bring the hammer down just in time it is implemented and then everybody in america will get used to having the government from their lives, 2014, it won't be for three years. you will have a chance to vote out that president and put a new one in and by then, their hope is that they will get you hooked i will never forget going to the green room at fox during the

debate when obamacare -- this was after the senate election where scott brown was elected and looked like the senate couldn't pass obamacare again and so the president decided to shut the senate bill through the house and i remember going to fox and i ran into the now famous juan williams, and i said to the mouthpiece of the white house i said what are you guys doing? he said you're going to get killed in the next election if you force this through and this is what he told me. he said i just talked to the white house, and they said we believe americans love entitlements, and once we get them hooked on this entitlement, they will never let it go. that's how they see you, a group of people to be hooked like fish, like mindless - who can just be snagged and then pulled

around however they want to take you. that's how they see this country, not people who are free and independent and have the ability to provide for themselves for a group of people that need them, and conversely the need you and your votes to keep their power. this is a state of affairs. we find ourselves today unless we're able to win this election, and that's why this issue of obamacare is vital because it is about taking away your freedom it's about destroying the business community, by the overregulation and cost, sure it's about micromanaging the health care which will lead to of course love and bleeding and not death panels but we will be denying the care to the expensive treatments because there is a budget we have to

keep to come to the united states you will be dictated to as to what your plans are and all the other aspects are, but we also find as you have seen it's not just for economic freedom that will be dictated by the government. the government says they will give you a right, they will tell you how to exercise that right. as we saw with the catholic church, where they said to the church you will do what we tell you to do even if you object to it morally. salles an article yesterday across the lake in chicago who said if obamacare is implemented there will be no catholic hospitals in america within two years. they will either be sold, we will close them, but we will not comply. [applause]

you hear the left with their constant drum beat separation of church and state. separation of church and state and here's the proposition of church and state with by the way does not appear in the constitution in the liberal not find those words, please feel free. what does is the term the free exercise of religion. of those words do appear. so religion is to be free from the dictators of government, with the government is not to be free of the influence of faith and people of faith.

[cheers and applause] this is basic constitutional law 101 to the elite and the culture this is some sort of cultural war that relieves people of faith should be able to express their opinion in the public square, they should be able to advocate according to them when someone of faith does that they are trying to impose their morality on you. no more than anyone else is allowed in the public square tries to impose their morality on anyone else. that is the public square is for. [applause]